The Highlander's Conquest (25 page)

“What happened to your escort?”

She jerked her gaze from Blane’s to glance at her father.
“
His shoulder was
burned saving me from a fire last night.”

“He saved you?” Her father looked surprised.

“Aye. He’s a gentleman.” She couldn’t help the defensiveness of her tone, and that only made her father wing a skeptical brow.

“Why is he limping?”

At that question, she felt heat flame into her cheeks swifter than a gale force wind.
How could she admit to her father, her one flaw that he’d lamented of most—
recklessness
—had been the reason behind Blane’s limp?

“That was an accident.” Fingers grasping her skirts, she tried to keep from wringing them together.

“What kind of accident?” Her father’s voice
had taken on a more severe tone and Aliah was catapulted back in time, feeling like a little girl confessing her latest
blunder
.

Aliah didn’t like feeling like that. She was a grown woman. Lifting her chin, she stared at her father straight in the eye as she said,
“I may have…shot him.”

“Shot him?”

Arbella laughed. The man Aliah had guessed was Magnus
came up and casually put his arm over
Arbella’s shoulder
,
laugh
ing
too and said dryly, “He probably deserved it.”

Aliah nodded, then trying to take the attention away from herself, tur
ned her full attention to
Magnus
. “
We’ve not been formally introduced.
I am Lady Aliah, Arbella’s sister.”

“’Tis wonderful to finally meet ye,” he said. “I am Magnus
, Laird Sutherland
.”

He
had nearly the same face as Blane, but where Blane’s hair was dark as a raven’s this man’s hair was more sandy in color. His eyes however, were the same intense green and measured her just as Blane’s had
when they’d first met
.
But whereas in Blane’s eye
s she saw desire, affection
, in
Magnus,
she saw friendly regard.
She felt like squirming, but used every tool she’d acquired over the years to stand tall with her
shoulders square
.

“I should offer you congratulations on
your
wedding
to
my sister
, Laird Sutherland
.”

Her words were not lost on
her intelligent new brother-by-marriage
. “Should?”

Aliah smiled. “Aye. If you would excuse me, it appears I am covered in soot and in desperate need of a bath.” Lifting her skirts she swept pas
t
everyone when she really felt like running. Explaining why she’d shot Blane was not something she
was up for
.

Arbella caught up to her, slipping her fingers gently around Aliah’s elbow. “You don’t know where you’re going, sister.”

“I just want to get away for a little bit.”

“I understand. Come, I will show you to your chamber.” Arbella led her up a narrow, circular set of stairs and finally into a chamber. A maid arrived, lighting the fire and several men carried in a tub, followed by more servants with steaming buckets of water.

Within minutes, Aliah found herself immersed in a warm tub. Arbella scooted a stool close and sat, staring
,
her elbow resting on her knee and chin resting on her fist. Aliah started to feel a little uncomfortable. Arbella always saw through her—save for her inner most desire to join the church. A desire that had since been completely destroyed.

“What happened?” Arbella asked.

“When?”

Arbella rolled her eyes. “Don’t play coy now. Tell me.”

Aliah wanted to tell her sister everything with all her heart, but she knew she couldn’t. Instead
,
she explained how Blane had come to the manor dressed as an Englishman
. How w
hen they’d crossed the border, he’d changed into his Highland garb
which scared the blazes out of her
. Sh
e’d thought she’d been kidnapped so, she
shot him. Arbella laughed at that.
Aliah
told her of waking up in a daze after the fire—left out the part of how they’d been attacked in the
woods and she’d shot a man. Left out the lovemaking. Left out the part
about
how she’d fallen madly, deeply, in love with Blane and that meeting him had changed the entire course of her life.

“I know how you feel, Aliah.” Arbella spoke softly.

“You do?”
What exactly…

“When I met Magnus, I was scared out of my mind. Thought for sure I would die. But things slowly…changed.”

“Changed how?”

Arbella shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but he showed me a different world. That I could be myself.
That I could lean on him. That being married to someone didn’t have to be a duty, it could be… enjoyable. Passionate. Loving.”

“You sound like Lorna.” Aliah scowled and blew out a breath.

Arbella smiled wistfully.
“I’m glad you got to meet her. I am looking forward to visiting her in the spring.”

“Will you be able to?” Aliah pointed at her belly.

“Magnus will balk, no doubt, but I’ve ways of convincing him.” A wicked smile covered her sister’s normally innocent face. Arbella had
changed
much since she’d left the manor
—and it appeared to be doing wonders for her
. “But enough of that, I must know. Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”
Aliah
rolled her eyes and sat back, fo
lding her arms across her chest, water sloshing over the sides of the tub.

“You will play
modest
with me. I see. Then perhaps I should tell you what I saw, what the rest of the clan saw.”

“By all means.” Aliah preten
ded to be busy soaping her arms even though her heart sped up.

“When Blane walked by you, he looked at you—and not just in any way. He looked at you the way Magnus looks at me. Intense. Possessive.”

“So? Mayhap he wanted to see if I was all right.”

Arbella laughed. “You returned his gaze with equal fervor.”

Her sister had a point there… She had indeed, and just thinking about Blane’s gaze made her feel flushed all over.

“You love him.”

“You and Murray must be drinking from the same wineskin.”

“Murray? What’s he got to do with this?”

Aliah rinsed off
the
soap and climbed from the tub, rapidly drying off the water drizzling over her skin
with a linen towel
. “He said the same thing when I cared for Blane’s shoulder.”

“Murray is quite astute.”

Aliah threw down the towel, yanked a chemise over her head and stomped her foot. Placing her hands on her hips she rounded on her sister.
“Fine. If you must know, I have come to care for him.”

“A
-
ha! I knew it.” Arbella rubbed her hands together.

“You are gaining entirely too much pleasure out of this,” Aliah replied with a roll of her eyes. She turned her gaze on the soft looking bed. “I’m tired.”

“What will you do? Does he feel the same for you?”

Aliah wished she could
peel back the plaid covered
blanket
, crawl into bed, lay her head on the plush pillows and fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Instead she had to brush out her hair. Sitting before the
fire lit in a metal brazier
, she
used not quite so gentle strokes to rid her hair of tangles. The heat of the fire helped to dry her hair and warm her chilled skin.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what you’ll do, or you don’t know how he feels?”

“Both.”

“Father is going to have a fit.”
Why did Arbella sound excited about that?

“Probably. But at least I am interested in a man and not the church.”

Arbella took a seat beside Aliah, taking the brush and pulling it through her hair gently.
“The church?”

“Aye. In the spring I was going to join the church
in secret
.”

Arbella laughed heartily at that. “
Why am I not surprised?
Do you know what is most humorous of all?”

“I can hardly wait to hear…”
Aliah said sarcastically.

“Just after Blane left to retrieve you, Father said to Magnus that you’d best arrive a maiden.”

Aliah grabbed the brush and met her sister’s gaze, all seriousness now.
“What makes you think I am not?”

Arbella raised a brow, her lips quirking into a knowing smile.
“If Blane is half as lusty as Magnus, you’re lucky to have not
arrived
great with child.”

“We only traveled for a couple weeks, ’tis not even possible.”

Arbella waved away her comments and started to pace the room. “You’ll have to wed.”

“I don’t even know if Blane wants to marry
me. He would have said as much,
wouldn’t he?” Aliah put the brush down and started to plait her nearly dry hair.

“Doesn’t matter. He will be forced to.”

Aliah shook her head fiercely, jumped to her feet. “I will not marry a man who is forced to wed me.
I’ll run to the first abbey and take vows before I say ‘I do’.
”

Arbella glanced at her, cocked her head to the side. “But you love each other.”

“Then he must wed me of his own accord. Promise me you’ll keep
this conversation between the two of us, Arbella. I want to speak with him on my own.”
Aliah despised the desperate urgency in her voice, but she had to make sure that Arbella kept her secret.

Arbella stared at her, a mixture of concern and respect on her face. “All right. I shall let you have it your way, but you should know
if the matter is not settled within a fortnight, I will have to tell Magnus.”

Aliah nodded, embraced her sister. “
Agreed
.”

“Get some rest. I will have a
tray of food
sent up to you
for supper
.”

“Thank you, for everything.”

“What are sister
s for?”
Arbella tucked her into bed while servants entered and cleaned away the mess of the tub.

“Arbella, can I ask you a quick question?”

“Aye.”

“Was father injured in the battle?”

Arbella shrugged. “I don’t think so. He was lost to me within the crowd. He only just arrived a couple weeks ago.”

“So the letter Blane gave me?”

“I forged it… I’m sorry.”

Aliah laughed. “You know me well. It worked.”

When Aliah fell asleep, her dreams were disturbing visions of Blane, fires, screaming.
Then of him shunning her, holding his hands out and shaking his head. Pain filled her chest. Heartbreak. Then her dreams turned more wicked and she woke sweaty, her thighs clenched together, nipples tight and her breathing rapid.
Not at all the restfulness she’d hoped for, and they left her more concerned for her future than ever before.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“W
hen will ye ask?” Magnus barged into the chamber and walked with steady confidence tow
ard the bed where Blane lounged after he’d bathed and been visited by the healer.

Blane glanced up at his brother through whisky hazed eyes. “Ask what?”

“You know.”

Blane shook his head, feeling pain slice over his brow. Just how much whisky had he drunk? He hated to feel like this. Heavy, tired, out of sorts. “I dinna know of what ye speak.” He needed food. That would help to calm the rolling in his belly and to clear his head. “I’m hungry.”

“I’ll not allow ye to eat until ye answer the damn question.” Magnus crossed his arms over his chest, trying
to look
every bit as powerful as he was.

For an ordinary man,
Magnus’
stance and
the
fierceness of his gaze might have had Blane blubbering on bended knee,
but this was his brother. He respected him, loved him, looked up to him even, but never did he fear him.

“I’ll be happy to answer your question if ye tell me what the hell
ye’re
talking about.” Blane struggled to sit up straighter, but the pillows were so plush and soft he just kept sinking back against them.

“When will ye ask Baron de Mowbray for the hand of his daughter?”

“Marriage?” Blane did manage to sit up then.

“Aye.”

Blane shook his head. “’Tis impossible.”

“Nay, ’tis not.”

“I canna marry the lass.”

“Ye have already lain with her.”

Had Aliah told them all? Anger burned in his chest.

“I see the way your mind works, and ’tis clear from the scowl on your face that I’m right—but the lass is not the one who told me. Ye just did.”

“What?”

“Aye. ’Twas a trick question.”

Blane glowered up at Magnus. “Bastard.”

Magnus smiled with pride and shrugged. “Now answer the question.”

“I didna plan to ask her,” Blane grumbled. “She
willna
have me and she deserves much more than what I have to offer.”

“Ye have much to offer a wife.
Ye’re
a good man, Blane. Ye have yourself, a good home, love.”

Love… Was he so obvious?
Magnus would think him weak for loving a woman he couldn’t have.

“To love is not a weakness, brother, unless ye let it inhibit ye. For me, loving Arbella has only enhanced my life.”

His brother had a knack for reading his thoughts. Damn him. And Magnus had a point
.
Double damn.

“But I am gone for months at a time, what wife wants that?”

Magnus shrugged. “Many wives manage. Warriors leave, and they try their damn
e
dest to return. I will have to leave soon…although I
hav
ena
broached the topic with my wife yet. She’ll be madder than a snake.”

Blane raised a brow. “But ye at least have your own home. I have nothing.”

“
Why canna ye have your own home? We’ll build ye one
.”

He hadn’t thought it would be so simple as that.

A knock sounded at the door and Ronan, the youngest Sutherland brother entered the room
with Murray
.
Ronan
smirked at Blane. “See ye got yourself in quite a mess.”

Blane felt like punching him.

Ronan took a similar stance beside Magnus, arms crossed over his broad chest. He looked much like Magnus, and it was entirely too irritating for a man with a headache.
Murray grinned mischievously and copied his cousins.

“Go away, the lot of ye.”

“I merely came to wish ye well, brother,” Ronan said. “And to tell ye, Magnus, Wallace has arrived. I will depart with him in the morn.”

“I’ve a mind to join ye,” Murray said.

“Dinna ye have a clan to rule?” Blane asked
Murray
in a surly tone.

“Aye. But they want me to marry soon and I’ve grown wary of the brides they keep parading. Have to keep the laird-hungry lasses at bay. If I’m warring for Scotland’s freedom, there’s aught they can do to get me married.”

Magnus
laughed at Murray and then
nodded and clapped Ronan on the shoulder.
“Ye will make a great leader, Ronan.”

“Thank ye.” Ronan came around to the side of the bed and Blane grasped his arm.

“Send ’
em
to hell, brother.” Ronan was a fierce warrior, unmatched on the battlefield—save by his brothers
and even his cousins
. But they all got their licks in. The
Sutherlands
fighting together was epic. “’Haps I’ll see
both
of ye on
the field.”

Ronan grinned. “Aye. I
willna
let a single Sassenach get pas
t
my sword.
But ye
need to stay here and tend to a certain lass.
”
He walked toward the door, then stopped to turn around. “I want to offer my blessings, your future bride is beautiful, and
since
she’s already shot ye, the marriage promises to be filled with surprises.” Ronan breezed out, his heavy laughter echoing through the corridor.

“Aye, she’s a bonny lass.” Murray winked, then laughed at Blane’s snarl as he followed Ronan out.

Had everybody already decided his fate for him?

“I’ve a need to meet with Wallace, brother. He’s brought with him the earls of Lennox, Carrick and Strathearn, as well as Robert the Bruce.”

“The Bruce?”

“Aye. Wallace
came to
collect Ronan to help begin training
the men
through the winter. Come spring, there promises to be a vicious battle. His companions were a surprise to me. Think ye can sober up and join us?”

Blane nodded. “Aye.”

“Good. A messenger arrived this afternoon from
Master Kerr
. The man wanted news of ye. Apparently, right after ye left, one of the vile Sassenachs saw the tail end of your party and they gave chase. I sent word back that ye were fine.”

“Thank ye.” Blane was immeasurably relieved to know that his friends were safe. They’d done so much for him, he’d hate if they were to suffer for it.

“Where is Heather? I’ve not seen her come traipsing in as everyone else has.” Blane glowered, but in all seriousness, he’d hoped for the bright cheerful smile of his
younger
sister.

Magnus shook his head. “The lass was in need of a matronly hand. I sent her to stay the winter with Murray’s mother.”

“Och, truly?” Murray’s mother was strict and proper. Heather was the exact opposite. A free spirit, and a saucy lass to be sure. At fifteen summers, she was a hellion, and in a few years when Magnus would have to find her a marriage match, there were likely to be scores of men lining up because of her reputed beauty—all of whom would run when she opened her mouth.

“Aye.”

“I pray the woman
doesna
whip the spirit from her.”

Magnus grinned. “I dinna think anyone could. Heather’s a strike of lightning to be sure.”

His brother was most likely right. If anything, Heather would come back still just as sharp-tongued and spirited, but with a proper curtsy and coif.

Magnus left the chamber and Blane crawled from the comfort of his bed to splash water on his face
and refresh his mouth with mint
. A few moments later a servant knocked,
entering with a tray of bread
and
steaming cup of tea
.

“The laird says
ye’re
to eat this
a
fore ye come down.”

Blane didn’t waste time digging into the
thick brown bread with honey and
the
warm herbal tisane
, feeling his head clear and
the
rumblings in his stomach calm. His shoulder hurt like the devil, but at least he’d been cleaned up and cared for. Healing had already begun. And he wasn’t going to miss a chance
to
meet the Bruce or the earls who’d knighted Wallace and named him the Guardian of Scotland.

More importantly, he couldn’t wait to see Aliah’s beautiful face again.

A clipped knock sounded at Aliah’s door
,
wakening her. “Who is it?” she c
alled from bed, part of her hoping
it was Blane.

“’Tis I,” her father said.

She climbed from the bed and put on the soft wool wrapper Arbella had left for her. “Come in,” she called.

Her father entered, his face a mask of concern.

“What is it?” she asked, alarm filling her.

“We must leave at first light.”

“What? Why? I’ve only just arrived.”

“Aye, I know it, but we must leave before winter sets or else we’ll be trapped in the Highlands until spring. I
,
for one
,
have had enough of Scotland.”

Aliah shook her head. “Nay, I cannot.”

The baron spread his hands wide, frowning. “Why not?”

“I wish to stay with Arbella and see her through her confinement.”
She was glad to have come up with an easy excuse.

Shaking his head, the baron put his hands on his hips, as if to scold a child. “Nay. ’Tis too far away. I won’t stay here and you will return to England with me. There are already discussions going on with several other barons regarding—”

“N
ay
!” Aliah shook her head hard but refrained from stomping her foot. She couldn’t very well tell her father she wouldn’t leave until she’d had a chance to speak with Blane.
Couldn’t confide that she ha
d hopes of a future in the Highlands. “Arbella needs me.”

“She does not. She has a husband now. Lots of people here care about her.”

“Do you think that marrying makes her family obsolete?”

“Nay, ’tis only, she has a new family now.”

Irritation cut a path through her veins. “And do you think that when mother passed, her family did not mourn her loss as much as you?”

The baron took a step back, shocked at her words. Aliah too was
stunned
at having said them. Pain shadowed his eyes but he quickly looked away. Aliah took his break in eye contact as a cut to her directly.

“I’m sorry that I took her away from you, Father. And I’m sorry for speaking of it now.”